Gun Shop Where Newtown Weapon Purchased Loses Firearms License

A gun shop in East Windsor, which sold the weapon used in the Newtown school massacre, has lost its federal license to sell guns.

ATF agents raided the Riverview Gun Sales shop a few days after the Dec. 14 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Nancy Lanza had purchased the Bushmaster AR-15 that her son Adam Lanza used to kill 26 people, including 20 first graders, authorities have said.

The ATF revoked the federal firearms license of owner David LaGuercia six days after the shootings, even though officials have acknowledged that the Bushmaster that Lanza used was purchased legally. LaGuercia had 60 days to appeal the license revocation but that has now expired, ATF spokesman Deb Seifert said.

LaGuercia could not be reached for comment Thursday but an employee who answered the phone said the shop is still open. The store still can sell ammunition as well as gun accessories.

While the federal investigation did not involve the gun purchase by Nancy Lanza, it started after investigators reviewed the records of that gun sale. Sources have said during that review investigators uncovered other evidence that led to the revocation of the firearms license.

The gun shop is familiar to law enforcement authorities. Omar Thornton, the gunman in the Hartford Distributors Inc. mass shooting that left eight people dead, also purchased guns there, records show.

Also in December a South Windsor man who had received a suspended prison sentence and two years probation in May on charges of stealing a dozen rifles and shotguns from Riverview Gun Sales tried to steal a sniper rifle from the same store but was caught.